Chapter 13

"I mean, Cayce can be your mate, but I wonder if you're his."

"What's that supposed to mean? That I'm useless?"

"I don't know, think for a moment. Mate is unconscious, possibly in a coma, and all you can do is say you can protect him. Oh, and his face looks like it got hit by car. Poor Cayce."

"As if you did anything. I at least was there to carry him to a bed where he can rest. All you did was give a judging eye!"

"Stop it! Both of you! You forget we have a guest!"

I hear some kind of argument going on, and judging from my acute hearing, it's a little far off from where I am.

That's right you forget you have a guest. No wonder Sleeping Beauty slept so long. She probably hated everyone since they kept talking about she's going to die one day!

I open my eyes and see I'm in some kind of bedroom-turned-hospital-room. I'm laying in a bed, with white sheets. As I look around, the sound of arguing fades away. When you have super hearing and super sight, one tends to work better when the other is taking a break. And whoever's arguing probably decided to be quieter.

I look down and see I'm under a few white sheets. Not stiff like paper, but soft as the cotton it's made of should be. That's nice. Taking in the room and how I'm laying down, I also reflect into the past, pulling the memories of what happened to lead me here.

I was at school, and I was tired. After talking with Bennet...I got hit in the face by a locker door. Oh yeah. I almost forgot the most important detail of being smacked. I mean, if it's embarrassing, it's the most important part. Especially if you're a teen. It's about looks at this age. Not the reality of affairs.

I'm in some kind of gown, but not an uncomfortable hospital gown. I look at it and see that it's a T-shirt. It's far too big for me, which is probably why I thought it was a gown. My underpants are still on. I feel my chest and realize my wings aren't stowed around my torso.

The knowledge that somebody saw my wings dawns on me. My eyes widen. I feel faint again, but I hold it off. Fainting won't get me anywhere. Well, maybe it does, since I fell asleep and was magically transported here. Sleeping Beauty knows about being saved while dozing. Unfortunately, I don't have that crazy rose garden or the hero.

I turn to see my wings extended in their normal state. They look like bat wings, without the bony parts. It's a very strange sight if you're not used to it. The shirt I'm wearing has holes in the back, so whoever put this on me must have cut it open for me. How considerate.

Though, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disrespect their hospitality. I need to know where I am. I need to find a way out of here as well.

Scanning the rest of the room and noting the contents, I check to see that there's no alarm system. I conclude after a few moments that there are none. Carefully, I bring my legs to the edge of the bed. Testing my legs to see if they hold my weight gives me another separate conclusion that they will. Standing up off the bed, the gown falls to my mid-thigh. The sleeves end right above my elbow. I quietly walk over to the closed door. Opening it, I look out into a deserted hallway.

I see through the hallway windows that it seems to be around late noon. I must've been unconscious for several hours. Or it could have been several days. I silently step out and close the door behind me. I need to find the exit. Tip-toeing over to a window, I try to open it. It only opens about four inches, not nearly enough for me to squeeze through.

Walking as quietly as I can down the hall, I see I'm on the second floor of a huge house, bigger than mine. Turning a corner, I hear the argument from earlier.

"We know for now he's stable. It's important that we contact his family to tell them what happened."

Whoever's speaking sounds much older than Bennet but resembles his voice pattern. Perhaps his father? I near huge double doors, and put my ear to it to listen. The voices are coming from here.

"He lives alone. And I don't know the passcode on his phone. We'll have to wait until he's conscious."

That voice I know. It's Grid. Help me queen!

"Contacting his family might not be the best idea."

Bennet. I've grown accustomed to his voice. Some part of me enjoys hearing the baritone richness of it.

It's not like I thought of him running his lips up my body while talking in his low voice. As if! I never did that. I mean, not officially. Why do you ask?

"Why so?" says the supposed-Dad.

"You saw his wings. He might not want to have his family involved, especially if he thinks we'll do something to him and his family," says Grid.

Oh, she knows too. Great. Maybe I should get out of here. But then, I'm a teen. Sneaky-games are a must-know and a must-do.

"About that," says the father catching my attention, "l believe I know what he is. I only had one experience of learning about there existence, but it's not one I'll forget."

"What is he?" I hear Bennet ask. I lean in even more. What does Daddy-dearest know about us?

"I believe he's one of the half breeds of angels and demons," says the dad.

He's dead right. My eyes widen, and I also almost faint on the spot. This time though, since I don't have an excuse of the locker door, I won't. I mean, I have a reputation that's already ripped like this shirt. I gotta keep it nice for tomorrow. But going back to what Bennet's Dad said, our existence shouldn't have been this widely known. But then again we might be. Social media and iPhones...you know the rest.

"The only time I heard about this was when a neighboring pack found one dead on their land. They buried it before I could go see it, but I saw a picture of its wings. The same shimmering look, and the featherless part. There's no denying it. He's one of them."

I feel my heartbeat speed up. This is catastrophic! They have a picture of us. Hope it looks good! I ain't going to be related to ugly! Though, I might already be. If that's the case, there will need to be major pruning to the family tree.

"I don't care what he is. I still want him to be mine," I hear Bennet say angrily. Wow, I didn't know I was that high in demand. At least, not officially. I did speculate, but to say that I was sure I was desired. Now all my daydreams have become reality. This is really important. This means, if I ever want to work, I can write on my application that my daydreams will dictate the future. No employer will turn me down!

"I understand that. I would never think of keeping you away from your mate. It's just we have to be careful. The boy is obviously supernatural like us. It's crucial to not be too bold," says the dad.

Something about what he just said catches my attention. Mate? I think they mentioned that phrase several times, and I'm certain there's something being indicated ehre that I'm only now catching up on. Of course, I'm smart, so I'm probably ahead of anybody else if they've been in a situation like this. I've heard about mates. They were a prime aspect of...What was it? Demons? No not demons. Then it hits me.

Werewolves. These people are werewolves! That explains everything. How Bennet has been mentioning the phrase mate like the letter e you find in each sentence. The huge appetite Grid had. I don't know about being touchy of others, but Greg along with Grid and Bennet definitely had werewolf genes. Their impressive bodies were proof. And Dad somewhere over in the other room just said they're supernatural!

And what about mates? I try to remember. Werewolves have mates, the cherished other half of their souls. Rejecting could result in the deaths of both mates. And werewolves are dead serious about mates. That's why Bennet was so possessive of me, even from the moment he met me. And I'm his mate.

That means...I'm probably going to marry him, and also...um...anyways...

I gasp. Too loudly.

I hear them stop talking, and before I can move, the door is thrown open. Bennet looks down at me with surprised blue eyes. I back away a few steps, but he just grabs me. Escape is officially impossible. His eyes are wide and panicked. I should be that, not you!

"How much did you hear?" he asks, looking into my eyes. I look down.

"All of it," I say.

I can't look at him. He knows what I am. I feel scared of what he thinks of me.

I'm not afraid of what he'll do to me though. He wants me. At least, I think he does.

He did say so before he chased me down and unintentionally knocked me out. But his family might not be so accepting. That's what scares me. A house that is full of werewolves, one of the strongest types of beings out there. I can fly, but fighting is really not something that can be discussed.

I pray they won't tear me apart.